


Rumor Don't Got It

by littledust



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-22
Updated: 2013-09-22
Packaged: 2017-12-27 08:01:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/976381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littledust/pseuds/littledust
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katherine Plumber is determined to make everyone at school care about the world, even if it means turning her unorthodox love life into news. It's all for the cause.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rumor Don't Got It

**Author's Note:**

  * For [evewithanapple](https://archiveofourown.org/users/evewithanapple/gifts).



> Originally written as a pinch hit for evewithanapple in Small Parts Fest. I'm pretty sure what we all needed was a Newsies OT3 high school AU featuring Katherine Plumber as the editor of the school paper. The title is a play on the Adele song, of course.

The bell rings, signaling the end of fourth period, and Katherine bolts out of class (health class, nothing you can't find on the Internet) to find her boys in the cafeteria. Well, all of Jack Kelly's friends are her boys, but two belong to her in particular, and they were away all weekend.

David's biology class is right down the hall from the cafeteria, so he's already at their usual table. "Hey, troublemaker," he greets her.

"Hello yourself," Katherine says in her best _femme fatale_ impression, crossing her arms and leaning against the doorframe. Few can equal the Jack Kelly Lean, but she's picked up a trick or two in the three years they've all known each other. They met in sophomore year of high school, after Katherine declared ten years of insufferably snobby private school enough and demanded a transfer to public school. Here at least she's just some eccentric rich girl rather than the headmaster's daughter.

David tugs the strap of her messenger back until she plunks herself next to him and pecks his cheek.

"It's our turn to be dating this week," he protests.

Katherine rolls her eyes. "Why is it that you make fun of _those_ couples until it's your turn to be one of them?" Nevertheless, she presses a kiss to his lips. It's close-mouthed, barely more than a warm brush of lips, but it sets off a trail of whispers and stares down the lunch lines. "We should bump up the SAT exposé to this week if people are going to be this interested in the gossip column."

Placated by the kiss, David flashes her a smile and says, "Whatever you want."

"I want another kiss," Katherine decides, and leans in as the other boys arrive, cat-calling them.

Katherine Plumber never meant to turn her life into fodder for selling newspapers, but she's always been determined to change the world. The truth shall make ye free, or so the old adage goes, and it doesn't matter what Katherine has to spin for the entertainment section to get people to read the truth staring out at them in black and white. (In the _Sun_ 's other articles of course; the gossip column is pure fiction, spun by Jack for the amusement of others, especially the people mentioned in the gossip column. He would make an excellent tabloid writer, except then David and Katherine would disown him.)

No, the only thing shocking about the situation is that Katherine never envisioned herself as an intrepid girl reporter with _two_ boyfriends. Romance was never really part of her life's ambition, though stories of romance always gave her the vague feeling that a little bit of it in one's life was nice. Katherine Plumber: Star Reporter worked solo. Then the star reporter joined the _Sun_ and met two boys, one all quicksilver laughter and the other all quiet fire, and fell in love with both of them. They sorted things out quickly enough, though, because Jack Kelly has never met a situation he couldn't charm his way out of (or into). He was the one to suggest all three of them date each other, throwing out the idea half in jest. Katherine seized the opportunity to end the stupid hormonal dance of the past six months. They both left the logistics of it all to David, who's done a bang up job thus far.

It works like this: they're always dating, but the rest of the world thinks that the three of them are in some kind of break-up/make-up cycle straight out of a teen movie. It was Katherine's idea to use their story to get their peers to read the school newspaper, because scandal sells, as Jack pointed out to her after the five millionth time she lamented no one caring enough to follow the news. Or, well, their so-called scandal doesn't make the _Sun_ any money, but it does make the student body more aware of the world's injustices, from union strikes in their city to increasingly bleak student loan statistics. Now, sometimes people try to _challenge_ Katherine's opinions when she raises her hand in class. So much of the news she reports is bleak, but moments like that give her hope that things can change.

"Speaking of the gossip column," David says under his breath, and in strides Jack Kelly under the watchful eye of everyone in the cafeteria.

"Betrayal!" he cries, clutching at his heart, because no one sells a story like Jack, even when everyone in the room knows the story must have more sides to it. "Katherine, I thought we had something this time! I thought we worked everything out!" He drops to one knee. "Is it because of your father?"

"He doesn't approve of you." A muscle inside Katherine's cheek twitches as she tries not to laugh. "But he doesn't have to date you. You're too careless with people's hearts, Jack! David and I have taken care of each other so many times that being together just feels _right_."

"For the fifth time this year," someone else at their table mutters. There's a pained yelp after David kicks him under the table. Katherine ignores them; their friends have it mostly figured out, of course, but they'd never give the game away.

Jack lets his shoulders slump and his head hang low. "I never deserved you. Either of you," he says sadly. "Can... can you ever forgive me?"

"Of course," David says, sincere in the midst of their playacting, and the half-smile Jack flashes them is all honesty. "Come sit with us."

"Thank you." And Jack wedges himself in between the pair of them to sling a casual arm around David's shoulders, a prelude to the next break-up and make-up.

They laugh about it, sometimes, the way the rumor mill shook out. Their school is convinced that Katherine and David are meant to get married and have millions of intellectual babies. Jack Kelly is the wicked, wayward soul who likes to steal them away from each other just for fun. They laugh about it, but Katherine and David know that Jack worries about being left outside, that sometimes it's hard for him to care about the larger world when he knows so many people with troubles. David catches Katherine's eye and nods; judging by the thread of tension running through Jack's body, today is one of those days.

Katherine sniffs and turns away to chat with Spot, but underneath the table, she hooks her ankle around Jack's. On the other side, she can sense David doing the same. Later on, they'll sit in the newsroom and Katherine will write another screed against biased standardized tests, and later still, they'll go to David's house and watch the news, all three of them tangled together on the couch. No matter the time or the audience, though, they have each other.


End file.
